Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the Defenders of the Motherland motion salutes after voting throughout the presidential election in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, Could 31, 2026.
Fernando Vergara/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Fernando Vergara/AP
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Powerful-on-crime outsider Aberaldo de la Espriella took the lead in Colombia’s presidential race within the first spherical of voting Sunday evening, organising a runoff with Iván Cepeda, an ally of Colombia’s outgoing President Gustavo Petro who questioned the outcomes of the election.
With no candidate taking an outright majority of the vote, the election will head to a second spherical in June.
However Cepeda and Petro sowed doubt within the outcomes of the primary spherical, claiming with out proof that a whole lot of 1000’s of votes have been manipulated and that international actors manipulated the outcomes of the election.
Cepeda mentioned he was ready for electoral authorities to scrutinize the outcomes earlier than accepting the election.
“Only when the vote-counting commissions have fully clarified what happened will we comment on tonight’s results,” Cepeda mentioned, although he acknowledged the vote was probably going to a second spherical.
Cepeda gained 41% of the vote, whereas de la Espriella gained 44% of the votes, with 99.98% of the outcomes counted by electoral authorities.
Cepeda is a progressive senator who has promised to hold on a fraught plan to attain “total peace” by negotiating peace pacts with guerrillas and prison gangs. He was persistently main polls within the run as much as the Sunday vote, however within the weeks main as much as the election de la Espriella quickly gained help with a promise that he would crack down on armed teams.
The neck-and-neck outcomes probably spell hassle for Cepeda within the run-off election, as de la Espriella is predicted to scoop up help from voters who threw their help behind one other conservative candidate within the first spherical.
De la Espriella — a newcomer referred to as El Tigre, or “The Tiger” — has sought to painting himself as a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Let the United States of America and democratic parties monitor this runoff election. I will lead this battle; I will be Colombia’s best warrior,” de la Espriella mentioned in an impassioned speech Sunday evening, pounding his chest behind bullet-proof glass in entrance of supporters.
Election outcomes exhibiting presidential candidates Abelardo de la Espriella of the Defenders of the Motherland motion and Ivan Cepeda of the ruling Historic Pact coalition advancing to a runoff election are projected at Cepeda’s marketing campaign headquarters in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, Could 31, 2026.
Matias Delacroix/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Matias Delacroix/AP
Colombian voters are weighing peace offers or a crackdown
Voters throughout Latin America are more and more ditching leaders that pitched progressive insurance policies geared toward addressing the foundation problems with battle, equivalent to lack of alternatives for younger individuals and corruption. As an alternative, voters have more and more turned to candidates promising heavy-handed safety crackdowns.
The polarized vote comes because the Trump administration is enjoying a extra aggressive position in Latin America than any U.S. authorities in many years, putting mounting stress on international locations like Colombia, Mexico, and Ecuador to crack down on crime.
The election has additionally underscored two sharply diverging visions for the way forward for peace in a rustic marked by years of battle.
On one aspect, Cepeda has promised to proceed Petro’s progressive agenda and a largely failed effort to barter peace pacts with armed teams, following a plan that is prone to sharply distinction with Trump’s imaginative and prescient for Latin America.
On the opposite aspect, de la Espriella has promised to fiercely crack down on prison teams and construct 10 mega-prisons, echoing the warfare on gangs coverage of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, which has pushed down murder charges however fueled accusations of human rights abuses.
“Today’s election isn’t just important for us, it’s important for all of Latin America,” mentioned Juan Acevedo, a 62-year-old sociologist strolling out of a voting station in Colombia’s capital on Sunday morning. “Whoever wins here will suggest to the region if progressive policies will continue or if things are going to return to the right.”
Supporters of presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda of the ruling Historic Pact coalition react as presidential election outcomes are introduced in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, Could 31, 2026.
Matias Delacroix/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Matias Delacroix/AP
Vote is seen as a referendum on Petro
The election — 10 years after Colombia signed an historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC — as seen as a referendum on Petro’s insurance policies.
The deal a decade in the past had provided hope to interrupt the nation’s vicious cycle of preventing between insurgent teams and the federal government. However violence has since roared again, partly as a result of armed teams have taken benefit of peace negotiations with Petro’s authorities to make territorial positive aspects.
That got here to a head within the lead-up to the election. Legal teams have more and more launched drone strikes, armed assaults have plagued the race and final June, 39-year-old politician and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was fatally shot at a political rally. Nonetheless, Cepeda and Petro have maintained robust help amongst many due to progressive insurance policies pushed ahead below Petro, equivalent to boosting the minimal wage.
Each de la Espriella and Valencia have touted their affinity for Trump, although Valencia’s electoral loss dealt one other blow to a as soon as highly effective political present referred to as Uribismo.
Colombians are divided on the best way ahead
Maria Eugenia, a 57-year-old seamstress on Friday in downtown Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, mentioned she welcomed an all-out offensive on an increasing slate of prison teams, whatever the human value.
Whereas she accepted of Petro’s pushes to enhance the nation’s medical infrastructure, she mentioned she was voting for de la Espriella as a result of violence in rural areas of the nation has gotten out of hand. She mentioned negotiating peace pacts was successfully rewarding armed teams.
“Of course, whenever you come down with a heavy hand, there’s always going to be debate,” she mentioned. “But some people are going to have to fall to clean up what needs to be cleaned up.”
Others, like Acevedo, the sociologist, mentioned a safety crackdown such because the one promoted by de la Espriella meant a return to previous army campaigns that he mentioned solely strengthened Colombia’s cycle of violence.
He mentioned he helps Cepeda, including that whereas the federal government hasn’t performed an ideal job — failing to cross formidable reforms and observe via on guarantees to cut back violence — it was higher to proceed pushing ahead with their political coalition’s efforts to take a unique method in addressing the nation’s violence.
He added that his primary critique of Petro’s administration was the facility grabs made by prison teams as they negotiated with the federal government. He mentioned he hoped that if Cepeda gained, he would strike a greater stability between negotiating peace and sustaining management over these teams.
“We’re a country that has lived through 60 years of conflict,” Acevedo mentioned. “The danger here is that we return to the times where everyone is saying that the only way to solve our problems is with bullets and more war.”
